Story+1988-03-13+Cleveland,+OH

(Kid Leo: “(?) the center of the midway…have you got your ticket? (crowd cheers) have you got your seat? (crowd cheers) you’re in for a ride that cannot be beat, I’m Kid Leo from WMMS (crowd cheers) it’s your turn at the Tunnel of Love Express, so raise those voices, I want a big hand, ladies and gentlemen, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band”)(crowd cheers)(the intro music starts)… Ready for a date? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Tunnel of Love”**

“I think I’ll take a little walk…I thought spring was coming but I don’t know (crowd cheers) hey, hey, man! how you doing? I haven’t seen you in a little while, how’s it going? (crowd cheers) it’s good to see you, you’re looking good, you look like you lost some weight or something (crowd cheers) what’s you been up to?... you’ve been married, I know you’ve been married now, alright, what else?...oh-oh, here come the baby pictures (chuckles)(crowd cheers) oh yeah, got a little Big Man running around out there (crowd cheers) how old’s this guy? three, three years old, he’s driving already (laughs from the crowd) is that his car? that’s your car – he’s got a little saxophone (crowd cheers) he’s handsome like his daddy (chuckles)(crowd cheers) he’s got a guitar too (chuckles) he’s gonna take care of it all when he (chuckles) that’s nice, he looks good…man, I remember back in ’75 (crowd cheers) we used to, we used to sit on this bench in 1975, right about, right about lunchtime and watch, watch the girls come out of this big office building on the corner, you know (crowd cheers)(chuckles) we used to sit here and it’s about that time now, man, ready?...hey, check the one, the one in the, the one in the blue skirt with the briefcase – here she comes, here she comes, here she comes…(crowd cheers) woah! (chuckles) wooh! can’t do that no more (chuckles) oh man, I tell you, the time, time goes – I remember I was with you, I was with you the night you, the night you met your wife, we were overseas and Clarence comes running into my room and he goes “Bruce, Bruce, I just met the girl that I’m gonna marry”…but he used to say that about every girl that he met, that’s why (chuckles)(crowd cheers) but he meant it, he wasn’t lying (chuckles) he just fell in love fast (chuckles) you know, but that night you really meant it then…it was nice, you’ve been married for six years…remember how it feels the first time that person that you’re interested in comes walking in the room and you’re checking her out…you’re seeing if she’s checking you out…making sure your hair is just perfect, you know (crowd cheers) wishing you’d remembered to brush your teeth before you came out and all that stuff (chuckles)(crowd cheers) that was good (?) feels kind of, uh, feels kind of like this, New Jersey-style – come on, Ritchie (the Horns of Love start harmonizing) oh yeah…(?)…man, I gotta, I gotta get home for dinner now, I gotta eat dinner at 6.30, then I gotta be in bed by eleven o’clock, you wouldn’t believe it, that’s when she goes to bed…I’ll see you a later, alright (?)(crowd cheers) …”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “All That Heaven Will Allow”**

“This is a song I wrote about eight years ago…seems like the times kind of caught up with it…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Roulette”**

“How you doing out there tonight? (crowd cheers) that’s good…how are you guys back there? (crowd cheers) that’s good…that’s good… it’s always nice to come back here, we got a lot of good memories in this town (crowd cheers) your past, your past is a funny thing because…I guess the past kind of binds people together and then also in your own life, if you’re not careful, it can hold you back…old dreams, old dreams that…are never gonna work can keep coming back to haunt you and the world just keeps breaking your heart over and over again (crowd cheers) so this next song was a song I wrote about a woman who was trying to put her old dreams away… struggling to get the part of her past that was holding her down and trying to understand the importance of her own individual existence (crowd cheers) and the importance and the value of the life of her child (crowd cheers) it seems like no matter where you go or what you become, the value of your own existence, of your own life is such a fragile thing to hold on to…and…I guess people, people struggle with it every day – I know that I do…and uh…this is a song about a woman…giving her all, fighting, fighting that struggle…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Spare Parts”**

“Thanks, we’re gonna take a short break and then we’ll be back, alright? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, after “Born in the U.S.A”**

“Oh yeah (?)…oh man, you guys, uh, you got that Home Shopping Network out here? (crowd cheers) you know where…they hang out on TV and try to get you…to call up and buy everything for 19.95… it was 29.95…that they bought for 10.95…I hate that damn thing (crowd cheers) but I love to shop…I like to go out when I get into town and pick up some souvenirs of my travels…a little keepsake to keep by the side of my bed when I go home (crowd cheers) to remind me of where I’ve been, little religious memorabilia, souvenirs…but now…you gotta go up to that big mall all the time… let me tell you…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “You Can Look”**

“Are you with me tonight? (crowd cheers) I mean are you with me out there tonight? (crowd cheers) because…what I wanna know is… are there any brave men in the audience tonight? (crowd cheers) are there any macho men out there tonight? (crowd cheers) this is Cleveland (crowd cheers) must be some bad men out there tonight (crowd cheers) well, I’ve seen men that would swim rivers, then climb mountains, then wrestle with a grizzly bear…but there was one thing, one thing that they was afraid of…I wanna tell you there was one thing they was scared of…you know what that one thing was?...I’m talking about L-U-V, love!...love scared ‘em to death… when they’d get next to love, they’d start running home to their mommies like little babies…now, women, girls, do you hear me? (crowd cheers) because I’m talking to you too, girls, I’m talking to the women too, I’ve seen women that would get a canoe and paddle down the Amazon River…fighting off crocodiles and alligators …I’ve seen women that would even date the horn section in this band (crowd cheers) brave women, serious women, sincere in their hearts…but when they got close to that one thing, when they got close to that love, when they got next to that, they got scared and they ran away…now I’m down here tonight because I got a confession I’ve got to make…what I wanna say is…I have sinned! (crowd cheers) I’ve got to lay my sin down now, I’ve got to lay my burden down…now, I don’t care who you bring down here, you could bring down Hulk Hogan, I’ll take him on…bring down George “The Animal” Steele, I’ll mess with him right here…bring down Andre the Giant, I’ll put the New Jersey whammer on him (crowd cheers) bring down the Road Warriors – I’ll take ‘em on all at the same time…I’m not afraid of those kinds of things, but there’s one thing that I’m sacred of…there’s one thing, there’s one thing…and all I wanna say is…I’m a coward…when it comes to love…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “I’m a Coward”**

“Now, I was reading the newspaper the other day…I came across this story…listen to this…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”**

“Well, have you ever been lonely? (crowd cheers) so, so lonely…so lonely that you just wanna lock yourself in your room…and you start living inside your head too much, you know…well, that’s when you gotta reach out…and you gotta find somebody to remind you that you’re a real human being…oh, that’s when I wanna say…that’s when I wanna say…that’s when I need to say…I need to say…oh, oh, oh…oh, oh, oh…hey, come on now, baby (crowd cheers)…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, middle of “Dancing in the Dark”**

“On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) on vocals and guitar, Miss Patti Scialfa (crowd cheers) oh yeah…on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) on the bass, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers) and back on the horns, Eddie “Kingfish” Manion, Ritchie La Bamba on the trombone, Mark the Love Man, Mike on the trumpet, Mario Cruz on the saxophone – the Horns of Love (crowd cheers) and last but not least (crowd cheers) the handsomest man you have ever seen (crowd cheers) do I have to say his name? (crowd cheers) do I have to say his name? (crowd cheers) give me a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what’s that spell? (crowd: “Clarence”) what’s that spell? (crowd: “Clarence”) what’s that spell? (crowd: “Clarence”) what’s that spell? (crowd: “Clarence”) Clarence “Big Man” Clemons on the saxophone (crowd cheers)…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, middle of “Light of Day”**

“Thanks (crowd cheers) thank you (crowd cheers) this, uh…oh…I just wanna say it’s nice to be back out on the road again (chuckles) (crowd cheers) when I’m home I forget how much I miss it sometimes, for some reason (crowd cheers) but, uh, before we were coming out, I was sitting around thinking what I was gonna do that would be different…you know, you gotta, gotta sing a new song all the time (chuckles) that’s my job (chuckles)(crowd cheers) and uh (crowd cheers) and uh, I was sitting around thinking about this song…usually a question everybody asks me if they see me on the street or something is they always wanna know what my favorite song is (crowd cheers) you know, that I’ve written…usually I say “Oh, you know, I don’t have one” or, or something like that but I’m lying because this next song, this is my favorite song (chuckles)(crowd cheers) and uh…I guess, uh, it’s a song I wrote, oh, let me think now…fifteen years ago (crowd cheers) I was 24 years old, I was sitting at the end of my bed in Long Branch, New Jersey (chuckles)(crowd cheers) in the afternoon…and I wrote this song…and I guess before we came out I was wondering how I was gonna sing it again, I’ve sung it so much, it’s a song that I don’t really get tired of singing (crowd cheers) I guess it surprises me how much I knew about my life when I was so young…it’s a song about a guy and a girl that thought they wanted to run and keep on running (crowd cheers) but as, as I got older and the song started to take in the years, I realized that what they were doing was they were actually out there searching for something better (crowd cheers) they were out there looking outward into the world, trying to find someplace where they could stand, someplace that they could call “home”…and I guess that’s what we all do for most of our lives, search for that place that we can call “home”…you grow older and you try to understand what manhood and what adulthood means and you realize that that home-place is something that you always carried with buried deep down inside (crowd cheers) so anyway, this song has kept me, it’s kept me pretty good company on my search, I hope it’s kept you good company on yours (crowd cheers) so I wanna do this and dedicate it to you tonight (crowd cheers)…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Born to Run”**

“And then…(starts the song)crowd cheers)…this is for all you old suckers out there…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Glory Days”**

“I just wanna take a second and thank everybody for coming down to the show, thank you (crowd cheers) I’d like to thank, uh, Cleveland for its long history of supporting our band, we appreciate it (crowd cheers) you made us feel at home when we first came here way back when (chuckles)(crowd cheers) so this is for you and the one you love, wishing you a safe trip through that tunnel of love – hold tight…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Love Me Tender”**

“(?)…does her daddy come down and wring his neck? (crowd: “No”) does he end up broke, busted and disgusted? (crowd: “No”) or does he get away with it all? (crowd cheers) the answer to these mysteries and others will now be revealed…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Rosalita”**

“You’re asking for it now (crowd cheers) we’re gonna have to hurt you, we’re gonna have to beat you up (crowd cheers) gonna have to mess you up, gonna have to tear your head off in the name of love of course…” (…) I see a train coming down the track…I see a train coming down the track (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) it’s gonna take me away, it ain’t ever gonna bring me back (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) I see a train (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) coming down the line (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) I see a train, train, train, train coming down the line (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) it’s gonna take me away, gonna leave my baby behind (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) there’s a conductor…dressed in black…he says “I’m taking you boys away from your mamas…and you ain’t ever going back”…Boston, Massachusetts…(?) all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) Kansas City, I said we’re all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) the Midnight Special, we’re moving all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) Wabash Cannonball, we’re moving all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) night train to Memphis, we’re going all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) climb aboard the Mystery Train, we’re moving all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) New Orleans, we’re shaking all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) San Francisco, we’re getting all aboard…Miami, Florida… Atlanta, Georgia…we’re getting all aboard…we’re moving all aboard…on up to Cleveland (crowd cheers) we’re all aboard…I said you’re all aboard…are you ready to go? (crowd cheers) you’re gonna have to quit school…you’re gonna have to quit your job (crowd cheers) you’re gonna have to say goodbye to your mommy and your daddy…are you ready to go? (crowd cheers) are you ready to go? (crowd cheers) ‘cause you’re all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) you’re all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) I said it’s all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”) I said it’s all aboard (crowd: “Woo-woo!”)…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Detroit Medley”**

“Well…I think I feel a spirit coming on me now (crowd cheers) I think…if I was to quit now, I’d put a stain on my reputation (crowd cheers) couldn’t stand it now…but I don’t wanna hurt you…can you take it? (crowd cheers) can you take it? (crowd cheers) can you take it? (crowd cheers) can you take it? (crowd cheers) then I got a question for you…”
 * 13.03.88 Cleveland, OH, intro to “Sweet Soul Music”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//